Big data sounds great—more data should mean better decisions, right? But in BIM and construction, just like in business, volume doesn’t guarantee value.
Nokia had endless market data saying consumers wouldn’t pay more for a phone. But they got blindsided by the smartphone revolution. Anthropologist Amy Chen warned them that people in low-income areas saw smartphones differently, but her insights—based on just 100 data points—were ignored. The result? Nokia lost its market dominance while competitors thrived.
The problem? Big data is just past data. It tells you what was, not what will be. And in a rapidly changing world, clinging to old patterns can be disastrous.
The same trap exists in construction. Think of a digital twin overloaded with unstructured data—thousands of attributes, but no clear insights. Or a project team drowning in clash detection reports but missing the one critical issue that will cause site delays.
In BIM, more data isn’t the goal—actionable insights are. A well-structured model with meaningful parameters will always outperform a bloated dataset that no one can use.
So next time someone pushes big data as the ultimate solution, ask yourself, are we getting insights or just collecting noise? Because drowning in data won’t save you if you miss the iceberg ahead.
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